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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30024297">the life we live</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/glass_mirrors/pseuds/glass_mirrors'>glass_mirrors</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>as you can see i still don't know how to tag, based on the final battle of the azure moon route, basically everybody tagged is just mentioned, kind of from ingrid's perspective?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 23:08:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,144</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30024297</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/glass_mirrors/pseuds/glass_mirrors</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>somehow, her classmates’ gasps cut through the frantic yells like a warm knife to butter. when ingrid looks up at the sound of them, she half wishes she hadn’t.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the life we live</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The transformation is grueling and gross, the air thick and heavy on Ingrid’s chest as she watches on. From atop her pegasus, she hears the shouts and screams of soldiers and she can see close allies and classmates from her peripherals. Ahead of her, Dimitri and the Professor stand side-by-side, unwavering as they watch the horrendous beast twist unnaturally.</p><p>The same can’t be said for those next to her. Annette has her face pressed into Mercedes’ chest, arms wrapped around the healer and turning her back to where the regal emperor had once stood. Mercedes’ eyes glitter with tears like a creek under the morning sun as she hugs Annette to her, never looking away from the face of the beast. Felix glares weakly at the writhing lifeform, propped up partially by Sylvain, who had gotten off his horse. Lysithea is crouched by his feet, healing a nasty gash on the midnight-haired man's thigh.</p><p>Ashe has stumbled away, green eyes wide with terror as gloved hands clench around his bow. His arms quiver, chest rising and falling rapidly as his breaths become short. Dedue stands next to him, shifting the weight of his axe in between both hands. Ingrid can feel Dorothea’s steady presence just behind her, and for now, that is enough.</p><p>Somehow, her classmates’ gasps cut through the frantic yells like a warm knife to butter. When Ingrid looks up at the sound of them, she half wishes she hadn’t. It takes all she has to not fall right off her pegasus.</p><p>Edelgard doesn’t even look the slightest bit human anymore. The vivid red and glimmering gold of her fabrics are long gone, replaced with a sullen, cold black. Only her eyes and accents on her shoulders retain the bright color formerly draped on her frame - ruby jewels glint in her sunken eye sockets and red disks decorate widened, corded, coal-colored shoulders. She has grown tall, towering over the Kingdom army, and too-long skeletal fingers reach further down than they’re supposed to reach. Thin, wing-like growths sprout from her back like dead branches.</p><p>When she speaks, her voice is equally as distorted as her body. It’s raspy but loud, each word spoken with an unsettling rumble as she berates them, tells them that they are about to be killed for her ideals.</p><p>“There can only be one ruler of the world,” she says, staring unblinkingly at the shaken Kingdom army. Raising her hand, she speaks again, “And I intend to be it.” Even then, their leaders don’t falter. From the angle Ingrid has, she sees a faint shimmer of longing in Dimitri’s blue eye as he meets this monster’s flame eyes. The Professor brushes Dimitri’s forearm with an ungloved hand, the golden disks laced together at his shoulder glittering in the flickering firelight.</p><p>Once, she had asked Mercedes why she fought, even when knowing her life could be forfeit at any moment. Mercedes had told her that if the Goddess willed it, she would be content in sacrificing her heart for her friends and her home. Now, she steadies herself on her mount, readying her lance again. Now, she watches her former classmates rise up to the challenge, even if fear still dances through their eyes. Now, Dimitri raises his lance and calls out an order to move forward.</p><p>Instantaneously, chaos breaks loose. Arrows rain overhead, and Ingrid can’t tell who’s shooting what anymore. Smoke billows from burning fabric and fire spells, lightning crackling in the air. Dark magic seeps from the floors, and what was once Edelgard roars. In frustration or pain, Ingrid doesn’t know, and she won’t stick around to find out, either, instead darting forward, knocking a blow away from Annette’s back. Ingrid quickly follows that with a slash and a jab, sending them sprawling on the floor. Annette yells a thank you as her hands light with flame.</p><p>The battle seems to go on for hours, even if Ingrid knows that isn’t true. Her body aches by the end of it, clothes and weapon bloodstained when she very nearly collapses onto the ground, pegasus wobbling as it keeps itself upright. The unholy black matter crumbles and dissipates from the emperor’s body, revealing the stunning red fabrics everyone is used to. She’s crumpled on the floor, head lowered and ruby cape pooled around her. Her weapon is gone, and Ingrid doesn’t have the slightest clue of where it went. Dimitri steps forward, and Ingrid is about to spur her pegasus forward too, before the Professor raises a hand, stopping them all in their tracks. </p><p>Reluctantly, Ingrid pulls back, watching on warily as Dimitri continues to approach Edelgard. She watches as he extends a gauntlet-clad hand to her, watches as a silver dagger imbeds itself into Dimitri’s armored shoulder. She watches the head of Areadbhar pierce through Edelgard’s body, continues watching when Dimitri yanks the bloodied dagger out of his shoulder, when Edelgard falls to the floor with a dull thump. From then on, breath won’t enter or leave her body again. Her life was no more. The blood mixed in with her cloak, blending in with the striking red.</p><p>Ingrid stands with the rest of the group, awkwardly silent as they stand around the scene. The Professor, white robes stained with roses, leads Dimitri away. “We’ll be back. I trust you all know what to do now,” he says softly when he passes by, voice strained and usually ethereal eyes dull with exhaustion. No one says anything back, people only offering a few weak nods. Ingrid turns away from the two and dismounts from her pegasus.</p><p>Mercedes makes her way through them all, casting a few basic Heals for good measure before she gathers other healers to help her. Thoroughly worn, Ingrid props herself up on a wall, sitting on the ground. Soldiers had removed Edelgard’s lifeless body, escorting her out of the room as the healers made their rounds. Even those who knew very little restoration magic lent a hand. Dorothea is next to her, much like earlier, and she stays silent, leaving the uneasy but calm air unbroken. Annette, in all her fatigue, walks alongside Mercedes, casting a small regenerative spell every once in a while.</p><p>Felix and Sylvain are on her other side, seemingly peacefully asleep. Ashe is curled up against a wall, shaking minutely, face buried in his arms and knees. The army that fought here is in shambles, but alive. Alive for another day, alive to see the end of the Adrestaian Emperor, alive to see the unification of Fodlan. Above all, Ingrid is grateful they’ve all survived. She knows that living a life of knighthood meant the threat of death around every corner.</p><p>So, for now, she decides to just thank the Goddess she can have more time in this world - more time with those she had grown to care so deeply about.</p>
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